BREAKING NEWS

Once bodyguard now priest to hear chief justice speech

From bodyguard to Catholic priest – and now, on May 17, to the Robert H. Jackson Center.

Father Moritz Fuchs served in the U.S. Army in Germany during and after World War II.

While in Germany, Fuchs spent 18 months in 1945 and 1946 as Justice Robert H. Jackson’s personal bodyguard at Nuremberg. Following an honorable discharge from the Army, Fuchs chose to go into the seminary.

“I had seen so much bad stuff, violent stuff, unjust stuff going on during the war and right after the war, I wanted to put all of the influence I had – I saw what one man could do in Jackson – and I saw spirituality as something we really need,” Fuchs said.

“I had studied at Purdue (University) for a couple of semesters to become a mechanical engineer before the war, but then I was drafted. What I saw during the war changed my mind.”

Fuchs will be traveling to Jamestown to be at the Robert H. Jackson Center on May 17. He will be joining John Roberts, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, who will be speaking about Jackson. Fuchs will be providing the invocation and benediction for the event.

Regarding the Nuremberg trials and Jackson, Fuchs said his primary duty was “making sure nothing happened to (Jackson).”

“Jackson was a great statesman,” Fuchs said. “He had a great love for our country, a respect for law, and he was certainly promoting the rule of law. All under the assumption, of course, that the laws are good laws. He worked toward fostering international law, that’s what he was working on with the Nuremberg trials: The punishment of the remaining Nazi criminals.”

Over the 18 months he spent with Jackson, Fuchs said he has many memories. Fuchs recalled Jackson’s stature as a statesman, as well as the variety of knowledge he possessed.

“He knew books, and he knew how to dress out a deer,” Fuchs said. “He shot a deer, and he said he wanted to dress it out. So, he knew high stuff, and he knew practical back-woods stuff, too.”

Fuchs will be at the Robert H. Jackson Center for Roberts’ speech, which will be taking place at 10 a.m. Additional information about the event may be found at www.roberthjackson.org.